Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1408886
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 | 61 Deloitte Summit P H OTO G R A P H Y BY G R A H A M H A N D FO R D/CO U RT E SY W E S T BA N K DELOITTE SUMMIT by LAURIE JONES O ne of the most unique build- ings on the downtown Vancouver skyline will offi- cially open in late summer 2021. The LEED Platinum targeted Deloitte Summit tower is a feat of architec- ture and engineering, with a striking design that integrates glass, a steel superstructure, mirrored soffits, and decorative perforated metal panels that are the base for the green walls that come together to create an iconic building form that acts as a lumi- nous sculpture on Georgia Street, Vancouver's ceremonial avenue. Located just west of the Vancouver Public Library, Deloitte Summit features 24 floors of workspace, a landscaped rooftop terrace that will be one of the largest in the city, and a sin- gle, two and four-storey atrium lobby with terrazzo flooring, tiled walls, and a sweeping, curved staircase to the second floor. "The goal for this project was to create a landmark at the eastern gate- way into downtown, so we wanted a completely different approach to the conventional office building," explains Andrew Klukas, project manager at Westbank. "After looking at the site, our design architects, OSO, found a way to rearrange the glass box and create a series of cubes that achieve the same density. From there the building evolved into this amaz- ing architectural sculpture and we're incredibly happy with the result." Mitch Sakumoto, principal at Merrick Architecture, says the build- ing was a collaboration between his firm and OSO, an architectural firm in Japan. "The concept design was OSO and Merrick Architecture is the architect of record in Vancouver. Each glass box consists of four storeys, and every four storeys the floor plate rotates slightly, so it's quite a unique design," he says. He adds the structure has six mega-columns built into the floor- plates and essentially, all the cubes are hung from those columns. "The mega- columns create columnless, open floorplans and there are pods of work- space areas within each cube." According to Sakumoto, one of the more remarkable qualities of this building is that within each four-sto- rey cube a truss system integrates with the mega-columns, allowing the cubes to be cantilevered. "It's one of the key elements of the design so the cubes are meant to look like they are passing over each other. At each tran- sition of the cube levels there is an outdoor area with landscaping. Vines will grow on one side of the cube on every floor." With such a unique design, the construction team faced multiple challenges throughout the project's progression. "It was a really com- plex build because of all the different angles, the soffits, and the roof sec- tions," says James Close, project manager for EllisDon. "Every time the building was rotated a couple of degrees, there were different roof lines and different angles to work on. The access to do the work on the out- side of the building for the soffits and small roofs was challenging. We used suspended stages that hung from the structure underneath the soffits. These platforms could be raised up or down as we worked on a particu- lar floor." In some sections the team had to leave windows out to access the roof, and install the window once that roof section was complete. The complex structural steel component of this building created challenges with the access to the sof- fits and the variety of roofs, Close explains: "Other than the concrete